Headlands, Redwoods, and Closed Lighthouses
Today we took the bus cross-town and rented a car so we could take advantage of the oh-so-close national parklands just north of the city. So, we hopped on highway 101 and cruised across the incredibly long Golden Gate Bridge. Notice the rusty old hippy van sputtering along in front of us - they are about as abundant in California as squirrels are in Boston Common.
First, we headed west to the Marin Headlands, where the morning cloudcover once again cleared and gave me this incredible, though somewhat monotone, skyline & bridge shot.
We then headed down to the Point Bonita lighthouse only to find that the narrow walkway leading up to it was closed (they close it during high winds, which was the case yesterday). Here's the massive rocky point, which has a tunnel through it leading to the lighthouse. Also notice the blue sky extending its reign over the daytime sky.
I took some shots of the skyline here with the SLR, and I used the telephoto lens to snap some of the harbor seals sunning themselves & frolicking on the rocks below this cliff. Obviously those are not yet available for viewing, but I'm sure they'll come out wonderfully.
Just north of the Marin Headlands is Mount Tamalpais (which I've been pronouncing "tomato paste") and the touristy but entirely worthwhile Muir Woods, housing a host of giant redwoods in a cool, damp, stream-lined valley just inside the coast. We walked along the planked & paved fat-slow-tourist paths where the biggest trees are, and then we did some real hiking up the west side of the valley on a trial with the disappointing misnomer of "Ocean View Trail". Taking pictures of giant redwoods without doing those corny "me next to a giant tree" poses (which I do have a few of) just doesn't do justice to these national treasures, so just go there yourself already! Okay, okay, here's a picture of a few of them...use your imagination and think of a wicked huge tree.
We then cruised for a good hour, following Scenic Route 1 northward up the coast. The variation in terrain and vegetation is so sudden and dramatic - barren grasslands one moment, dense redwood groves the next, then tidal flats, then another grove of different conifers, etc. We veered off of Route 1 onto the Sir Francis Drake highway (everything's named after this guy out here!) and followed it through the enormous Point Reyes National Seashore, which is a swath of land that lies on the losing side of the San Andreas fault. There are tidal flats and rolling green hills everywhere, and most of these hills are dotted with grazing cows, since the bulk of the land along the road is devoted to "historic" dairy farms. I now actually believe that happy cows come from California, since these laid back heifers seemed quite complacent, and the rolling green terrain was a dead-on match for what I assumed to be a bogus backdrop in the California cheese commercials. Anyway, at the end of this exceedingly long scenic drive is another lighthouse at Point Reyes...which was also closed! Apparently it's just plain old closed on Tuesdays & Wednesdays. The point was still awesome, with sweeping views up and down the coast, like this extraordinary beach to the north, which was well over 2 miles long with waves at least 10 feet high crashing onto the shore.
This time of year the gray whales are migrating close to shore, and guess what? That's right, I've got pictures of whales flapping their flippers off the coast, but they're also on the SLR so you'll have to be patient. There were, however, no elephant seals at the "Elephant Seal Overlook" (another disappointing misnomer).
All in all I took over 100 pictures today, including film & digital, although my tremulous excitement in the Muir Woods made many of them blurry. I had to go back and check my pictures to remember everything I had done! Tomorrow, my Uncle Vic & Aunt Louise are driving up from San Jose to drive us around in style to some choice sights, and then we're heading to their house to have dinner with my cousins, most of whom I haven't seen in about 15 years! Then on Thursday, we're heading up to wine country for more fun in those lush green California valleys. Stay tuned.
First, we headed west to the Marin Headlands, where the morning cloudcover once again cleared and gave me this incredible, though somewhat monotone, skyline & bridge shot. We then headed down to the Point Bonita lighthouse only to find that the narrow walkway leading up to it was closed (they close it during high winds, which was the case yesterday). Here's the massive rocky point, which has a tunnel through it leading to the lighthouse. Also notice the blue sky extending its reign over the daytime sky.I took some shots of the skyline here with the SLR, and I used the telephoto lens to snap some of the harbor seals sunning themselves & frolicking on the rocks below this cliff. Obviously those are not yet available for viewing, but I'm sure they'll come out wonderfully.Just north of the Marin Headlands is Mount Tamalpais (which I've been pronouncing "tomato paste") and the touristy but entirely worthwhile Muir Woods, housing a host of giant redwoods in a cool, damp, stream-lined valley just inside the coast. We walked along the planked & paved fat-slow-tourist paths where the biggest trees are, and then we did some real hiking up the west side of the valley on a trial with the disappointing misnomer of "Ocean View Trail". Taking pictures of giant redwoods without doing those corny "me next to a giant tree" poses (which I do have a few of) just doesn't do justice to these national treasures, so just go there yourself already! Okay, okay, here's a picture of a few of them...use your imagination and think of a wicked huge tree.
We then cruised for a good hour, following Scenic Route 1 northward up the coast. The variation in terrain and vegetation is so sudden and dramatic - barren grasslands one moment, dense redwood groves the next, then tidal flats, then another grove of different conifers, etc. We veered off of Route 1 onto the Sir Francis Drake highway (everything's named after this guy out here!) and followed it through the enormous Point Reyes National Seashore, which is a swath of land that lies on the losing side of the San Andreas fault. There are tidal flats and rolling green hills everywhere, and most of these hills are dotted with grazing cows, since the bulk of the land along the road is devoted to "historic" dairy farms. I now actually believe that happy cows come from California, since these laid back heifers seemed quite complacent, and the rolling green terrain was a dead-on match for what I assumed to be a bogus backdrop in the California cheese commercials. Anyway, at the end of this exceedingly long scenic drive is another lighthouse at Point Reyes...which was also closed! Apparently it's just plain old closed on Tuesdays & Wednesdays. The point was still awesome, with sweeping views up and down the coast, like this extraordinary beach to the north, which was well over 2 miles long with waves at least 10 feet high crashing onto the shore. This time of year the gray whales are migrating close to shore, and guess what? That's right, I've got pictures of whales flapping their flippers off the coast, but they're also on the SLR so you'll have to be patient. There were, however, no elephant seals at the "Elephant Seal Overlook" (another disappointing misnomer).All in all I took over 100 pictures today, including film & digital, although my tremulous excitement in the Muir Woods made many of them blurry. I had to go back and check my pictures to remember everything I had done! Tomorrow, my Uncle Vic & Aunt Louise are driving up from San Jose to drive us around in style to some choice sights, and then we're heading to their house to have dinner with my cousins, most of whom I haven't seen in about 15 years! Then on Thursday, we're heading up to wine country for more fun in those lush green California valleys. Stay tuned.
posted by Pete at 12:11 AM
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